CFHT / IRTF Venus observing - CFHT
January 21st, 2016
We had a bit of a surprise yesterday – when we started to open up the dome for the day’s observations, it couldn’t be done. There is a wind screen which can be raised from the bottom of the telescope slit, to reduce wind ingress into the dome – but this wind screen has become stuck in a position which blocks today’s view of Venus. Catastrophe! There are three technicians at the telescope – the day crew – who immediately swing into action, trying a whole range of tools in the effort to get the wind screen panels unstuck. An engineer drives up from the mid-level facility (Hale Pohaku), between them they bypass some of the controls and the problem is fixed! We have missed only two hours of Venus observation, from 8:30 to 10:30 in the morning; the remaining 2.5 hours of Venus observations are some of the best ever, with a clear stable sky and sharp Venus imaging.
This was a reminder of the immense infrastructure supporting the telescopes. In order to make the scientific discoveries we require, everything needs to be working: from electricity and water supplies, and more advanced supplies like cryogens and electronic components, to computer support to keep the servers and data pipelines running, these telescopes require constant attention. This includes mundane aspects - like delivery of food to the summit – to far more complicated aspects, like the supplies needed to run the high-vacuum facility in the CFHT telescope basement where the aluminium coating primary mirror is stripped and replated once every three years. The telescopes are increasingly moving to automated operations, where the observations can be run remotely from the telescope’s HQ building at lower altitude – but it is the constant maintenance support which keeps them running day-to-day, and allows any problems – like the ones we encountered today – to be fixed rapidly. Many thanks to the all the CFHT staff for their efforts in keeping this telescope running smoothly.
After this inauspicious start, the rest of the observing run went very well indeed – atmospheric turbulence was particularly low today, so Venus was visible very clearly, allowing for good observing.
This was a reminder of the immense infrastructure supporting the telescopes. In order to make the scientific discoveries we require, everything needs to be working: from electricity and water supplies, and more advanced supplies like cryogens and electronic components, to computer support to keep the servers and data pipelines running, these telescopes require constant attention. This includes mundane aspects - like delivery of food to the summit – to far more complicated aspects, like the supplies needed to run the high-vacuum facility in the CFHT telescope basement where the aluminium coating primary mirror is stripped and replated once every three years. The telescopes are increasingly moving to automated operations, where the observations can be run remotely from the telescope’s HQ building at lower altitude – but it is the constant maintenance support which keeps them running day-to-day, and allows any problems – like the ones we encountered today – to be fixed rapidly. Many thanks to the all the CFHT staff for their efforts in keeping this telescope running smoothly.
After this inauspicious start, the rest of the observing run went very well indeed – atmospheric turbulence was particularly low today, so Venus was visible very clearly, allowing for good observing.